The President of the European Parliament visited Kiev, met with Zelensky and asked for more help for countries hosting Ukrainians

The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, concluded on Friday, April 1, her visit to Ukraine, the first by a leader of a European institution to this country at war, with a meeting with the Ukrainian head of state, Volodymir Zelensky, who highlighted his “courage, strength, determination” and conveyed that support financial, military and humanitarian status of the European Union “will continue”.

Both to Zelensky - who began his speeches before parliaments of the world on March 1 at an extraordinary plenary session of the Euro-Chamber - and to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, and the president of the Rada (parliament), Ruslan Stefanchuk, from whom Metsola's invitation to go to Kiev started, Maltese politics carried a “message of hope” and in support of the European aspirations of the Ukrainian people, which he also developed in a speech to a plenary session before Ukrainian deputies.

“Courage, strength, determination. With Zelensky in Kiev. Long live Ukraine! ,” Metsola tweeted in a message on his official Twitter account, as a culmination of his surprise visit, in which he appears in an office in the middle of a handshake with the Ukrainian president, both dressed in green short-sleeved t-shirts and with Ukrainian and European Union flags in the background.

An image uploaded to this social network almost 24 hours after announcing the day before that it was “on its way” to Kiev, where it advocated this Friday to go “further” in the sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine, as well as “redoubling efforts” to reduce the European Union's energy dependence on Russia at first, with the aim” ambitious” to cut it completely in the future.

“Europe's goal must be to move towards a future without gas for Russia. Zero gasoline. This is ambitious but it is necessary,” the President of the Eurochamber defended in her speech to the Rada, the full content of which she shared with a link on her official Twitter account and disseminated her press service in Brussels.

Maltese politics, which took the lead of the European Parliament at the end of January, defended the need to “redouble” efforts to reduce “energy dependence on the Kremlin” and underlined its desire to “see a time when Europe is completely free and secure with our energy supply.”

Metsola also advocated the adoption of “more and tougher sanctions” against Russia and that Ukraine should one day join the European Union, while assuring that the EU will help rebuild the country and that those responsible for the war “be held accountable”.

“Every country has its own path, but Ukraine's future in the European Union should never be in doubt,” said the president of the Eurochamber.

As she did earlier in a meeting with the Ukrainian prime minister and the president of the Rada, Metsola assured Ukrainian parliamentarians that the Twenty-Seven will take care of people forced to flee the country, mostly women and children, and who already exceed four million, “until the day they can safely return to their homes and rebuild their lives”.

Metsola also assured that the EU will help rebuild Ukrainian cities and towns “when this illegal, unprovoked and unjustified invasion” of Russia ends, while recalling the European financial, military and humanitarian assistance already provided and that it “will continue and increase.”

He recalled, in this regard, that the Ukrainian Solidarity Trust Fund will be created and on 9 April an International Donors Conference will be organized in Warsaw to assist reconstruction.

The European Chamber president's visit to Kiev is “a powerful sign of political support,” Shmyhal said on his Twitter account. This idea was also emphasized by Stefanchuk, for whom Metsola is “a true friend of Ukraine” and her presence in the capital “an extremely important and symbolic expression of solidarity with the Ukrainian people”.

Metsola was preceded in a similar initiative on March 15 by the Prime Ministers of Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki, of the Czech Republic, Pietr Fiala, and Slovenia, Janez Jansa, who traveled to Kiev, on a mission which they informed the European Union (EU) and NATO, as Polish sources said at the time.

He called for more help for countries that welcome Ukrainians

The President of the European Parliament asked this Saturday for more help for countries such as Poland and others bordering Ukraine, which is taking in refugees fleeing the Russian invasion.

Visiting Poland after traveling to Ukraine, Metsola thanked the Polish authorities, NGOs operating in that country and volunteers, for the “exceptional effort in the reception and reception of Ukrainian families fleeing the war,” the Eurochamber said in a statement.

Metsola, who met today with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Ukrainian refugees arriving in Poland, declared herself “impressed by the efforts made by Poland, its communities and its citizens. You have given people in need a safe and secure space. It's touching to see it, it's the best thing in Europe,” he said.

The President of the European Chamber considered that “Poland has been bearing the greatest burden of the consequences of the war outside Ukraine” and that for this reason it needs, like other countries that are receiving and welcoming people suffering from the war in Ukraine, “more support”.

On the other hand, a delegation from the European Parliament, which this Saturday concluded a visit to Moldova, a country that is not part of the EU but is also receiving hundreds of thousands of refugees, called on the EU to “continue to intensify its efforts to help Moldova provide shelter and aid to people fleeing the war”.

They also called for support from Moldova in strengthening its energy security agreements and its resilience to hybrid threats, in particular to cyberattacks and misinformation.

The delegation, which began its visit to that country on 31 March, appreciated the generosity shown by the Moldovan population to refugees.

(With information from EFE)

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